St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children to Host Pediatric GI Conference

PHILADELPHIA - Oct. 15, 2015 - PRLog -- The Continuing Medical Education (CME) Program at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, located in Philadelphia, Pa., will host the first annual Pediatric Gastroenterology (GI) Conference at the hospital on Saturday, October 31 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The conference, led by the GI physicians at St. Christopher's, is designed to provide pediatric care providers with updated educational sessions on a number of topics within pediatric gastroenterology that have grown in prevalence. Educational sessions will include diagnosis and management of gluten sensitivities, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, functional abdominal pain, gastroesophageal reflux, chronic diarrhea, and feeding disorders in children.

"The program aims to address the topics in pediatric gastroenterology that we often get asked about as physicians at St. Christopher's," says Stephanie Appleman, MD, MS, pediatric gastroenterologist at St. Christopher's. "We are addressing many of these topics every day and there have been developments and advancements in the diagnosis and treatment in several of these areas. The goal is that we can share our knowledge of these findings with our peers and also open up a discussion for further research and advancements."

For an entire list of the learning objectives of this conference, please visit www.stchristophershospital.com/CME.

Dr. Appleman, who is spearheading the GI conference, adds that the St. Christopher's CME program has a reputation for hosting educational conferences that bring together a multitude of medical professionals within St. Christopher's and throughout the region and nation to focus on different topics.

Through the CME Program, St. Christopher’s hosts weekly grand rounds every Friday that feature a different topic in pediatric medicine. The hospital also hosts several recurrent events, including SCAN, a Child Abuse & Neglect Training for Pennsylvania-licensed Mandated Reporters, and “A Day with the Newborn,” a symposium designed to provide practitioners who care for newborns with the most up-to-date knowledge of issues that are commonly encountered in critically ill neonates.

"St. Christopher's has been dedicated to physician education and training for more than 110 years, with the development of continuing medical education for nearly 60 years," says Jennifer Vodzak, MD, infectious diseases attending physician and assistant director of the CME Program at St. Christopher’s. "Our CME program has been shaped over the years by the wonderful influences of several historically renowned pediatricians, including Dr. William H. Bennett who founded St. Christopher’s, Dr. Waldo E. Nelson, who authored what is widely-known as THE pediatric textbook, and Dr. Angelo DiGeorge, who detailed DiGeorge Syndrome.. The GI Conference is just one example of how that passion for providing medical education to peers is still very much a focus of who we are today."

Grand rounds and other CME activities are open to St. Christopher's medical staff, as well as physicians and medical professionals from outside hospitals and practices.  Upcoming events include the David S. Smith Visiting Professorship Grand Rounds in October with the AAP president-elect Dr. Bernard P. Dreyer, as well as the annual evening Waldo E. Nelson Lecture with pediatric radiologist Dr. Eric Faerber in November.

For more information about the CME program, upcoming events, or to register for the GI conference, please visit www.stchristophershospital.com/cme.

About St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children

Since 1875, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children has been providing exceptional patient care and advancing new pediatric treatments through research and innovation. Through affiliations with Drexel University College of Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine, and Albert Einstein Medical Center, St. Christopher’s is a teaching hospital helping to train the next generation of professionals in pediatric medicine. For more than 60 years, the hospital has been dedicated to not only the education and training of physicians, but, also to that of nurses and other allied health professionals.

St. Christopher’s is a 189-bed hospital that is committed to delivering high quality patient-centered care to children throughout the greater Delaware Valley. It has a full range of pediatric subspecialists to support the care of its patients and the families it serves. Its highly acclaimed programs include the highest level of pediatric trauma care and neonatal care, a Heart Center, Oncology unit and the only dedicated pediatric burn center in the region. St. Christopher’s also has one of the busiest emergency departments for children in the country, with over 70,000 annual visits.

St. Christopher’s once again achieved Magnet status in 2014 and numerous awards to St. Christopher’s physicians, who are frequently recognized in regional and national publications as “Top Docs” in their fields of expertise. In 2014, St. Christopher’s was the only pediatric hospital in the state and one of only nine nationally to be listed as a Top Children’s Hospital by The Leapfrog Group. The Leapfrog Top Children’s Hospital award is given to hospitals that demonstrate excellence in hospital safety and quality and is given to less than seven percent of eligible hospitals.

St. Christopher’s recently opened the Center for the Urban Child, which provides children with comprehensive services to help break the cycles of food insecurity, violence and childhood illness.

To learn more about St. Christopher’s, visit www.stchristophershospital.com or call 215-427-5000 or 1-888-CHRISKIDS (247-4754). Find us on social media at facebook.com/stchrishospital, stchrishospital.blogspot.com, youtube.com/stchrisvideos, pinterest.com/stchrishospital, and on instagram at @stchrismarketing and twitter at @stchrishospital.